Fitness exam ordered for man charged in Park City day care sex assaults

A Park City man charged with sexually assaulting several children who attended his wife’s former home-based day care operation will undergo a court-ordered mental health fitness evaluation.

At the request of his defense attorney, Robert Ritacca, Adan Contreras, 58, will be evaluated for fitness while in the Lake County jail, and then a report will be submitted back to the court.

The request was approved by Lake County Circuit Court Judge Mark Levitt at a hearing Wednesday morning.

Depending on the report’s recommendation, a full fitness hearing could be held, and if found unfit for court proceedings, Contreras could be sent to a state mental health facility for treatment prior to the continuation of his case.

The fitness evaluation will circumvent the trial date of Sept. 17 that had been set for Contreras. Officials said it is not known when the report will be completed.

Contreras was arrested in March 2017, and has been indicted on 25 felony counts, including three counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, three counts of criminal sexual assault with force, 15 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child and four counts of criminal sexual abuse by force.

The alleged offenses date from 2008 to 2012, court records show. The children attended a day care operated out of the house where Contreras was arrested, Park City Police Cmdr. Kenneth Stoves said after the arrest last year.

He also said there were no indications that Contreras' wife was involved in the alleged crimes.

Stoves said there had been an initial investigation in 2012, after a single child came forward, but investigators didn’t have enough evidence to bring charges.

In 2015, as other victims came forward, the case did develop, Stoves said. He said police “pretty much interviewed everyone at the center, which took some time."

The Department of Children and Family Services was also contacted in 2012 and eventually closed the day care operation.

About 10 or 12 children were interviewed, and several, but not all, reported that they had been victims, according to police. Stoves said Contreras had opportunity to be alone with the children who were of different ages, all younger than 13.